Sep 8, 2012 1:34 AM

My hard work turning our garden into a sanctuary for wildlife has really paid off this year with lots of bees & butterflies etc visiting. Unfortunately I don't know my bees very well so struggling to ID them! I'm hoping that someone can help as I'm trying to keep records of everything that visits the garden and could do with some IDs if possible please?

Apologies if I've got the same species more than once but I've tried to put in bees which I think are different. I also apologise as most images are poor quality but ok for ID I hope?....

1 is a hoverfly, Merodon equestris as jaguarondi has suggested sounds about right with that picture.

2, 3, 7 and 9 are Carder bees. The ones that could be mistaken with each other are B. pascuorum (Common Carder Bee), B. humilis (Brown-banded Carder Bee) and B. muscorum (Moss Carder Bee). I think when their abdomen lacks some hair or it looks more black is pascuorum but again colour variation is crazy in bumblebees...

Only pascuorum is quite widespread in UK, the other two have shown a great decline lately. You can take a look here and check their most recent distribution to see if they are present in your area.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply it really is very much appreciated!!!

I have these and others that I have had so much trouble IDing for quite some time now and couldn' find out where I could send them! The links that you sent are very valuable to me and yes I will 'bee' sending a few others to BBCT.

I have been designing my garden for wildlife and in particular pollinators for the last couple of years, this has proved a big success in volume but I've been struggling with IDs. I like to record everything that comes into the garden and whenever possible photograph it so the BBCT is extremely interesting to find out just what is cominig in!

Thank you for your answer it is very much appreciated. I have looked both of these up now and they seem spot on with your ID so that's great!

I'm currently trying to ID exactly what species are visiting my garden since we started with our 'wildlife garden project' a couple of years ago so if you fancy some other pictures to look at and ID let me know!!??...

True, I think I misplaced number 4 because is obviously a Carder bee. Number 11 doesn´t look to me like B.hortorum but that´s just my opinion. It´s difficult to tell by that picture. How is your garden survey going on, Higgy?? Have you found many different species this summer then?

Thanks as always for your input, this Bee ID lark is a bit of a 'game' isn't it!!??....

The garden survey is going very well and despite the wet weather I've managed several new species and a few that I still need to ID! I am currently in the middle of putting together a list of everything that visits but this includes, insects, birds, butterflies, moths,mammals and of course reptiles & amphibians! As you can probably imagine this is quite a task and I have a few more to add to the list yet!...

If are interested to see a few things that have been visiting and of course see what I'm actually doing in the garden please do take a look at my blog....

I did not say that nr 11 is a B.hortorumT say: Nr 11 is Bombus pratorum.Redarsie say: "4, 5, 6 , 11. They´re either White-tailed Bumblebees (B. lucorum) or Buff-tailed Bumblebees (B. terrestris). If I remember correctly their the only white bums in UK."Well You did not remember correctly there is at least 1 more Bombus with Subgenera Bombus named B.cryptarum in UK. Also B.hortorum and B.soroeensis have white bums. Nr 11 has no yellow band on The abdominal tergite 2 and can not be a Bombus.Bombus,the picture also show that the bom is not white.Nr 4 is yellow at the Scutellum, no Bombus Bombus female has that,but B.hortorum has.